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A Dan Gurney Anecdote
Jan. 16th, 2018 12:31 amIf you've ever seen the movie "Grand Prix" with Jim Garner, it's a fictionalized account of the 1966 F1 season. In the movie, the FIA lost their collective mind, and decided to hold the Italian GP at Monza on the old course, the one with the flyover bridge^1. At any rate, in the film, Dan Gurney's exhaust pipe falls off on the flyover, and causes a fatal (and quite horribly realistic) accident of the sort that used to be so common in the '60s, with a car on fire, and the dead driver hanging from a tree.
There's a story behind that.
In 1966, downforce generators were not yet allowed at Indianapolis. No wings, spoilers, etc. Dan Gurney showed up at the track with an Eagle / Ford with extra-long exhaust pipes angled upward at a 45 degree angle. This, he explained, was for safety, so that drivers behind him (as they surely all would be) did not have to breathe exhaust fumes. For extra safety, he had a wedge-shaped, very rigid piece of metal mounted over the pipes, so that they were strapped onto the underside with steel straps. This, he explained, was also for safety, so there would be no chance of an exhaust pipe falling off and causing a horrible accident. The Speedway were unimpressed, and made him take it off. For years afterward in American racing, any device that was plainly intended to circumvent the rules in some imaginative fashion was referred to as a "Gurney Brace".
^1 Automobile racing in Italy was already on thin ice at the time, after the bloodbath at the '57 Mille Miglia, and the ghastly disaster at Monza in '61 when Count von Trips^2, along with a number of spectators, was killed when his car hit a fence against which many people (most of them children) were leaning as they watched the race. This, also, is referenced in the movie. That entire movie is full of easter eggs for people who know their racing history, which is one of the reason I love it.
^2 - a Reichsgraf - quite possibly the only racing driver ever who was also an Elector of the Holy Roman Empire.
There's a story behind that.
In 1966, downforce generators were not yet allowed at Indianapolis. No wings, spoilers, etc. Dan Gurney showed up at the track with an Eagle / Ford with extra-long exhaust pipes angled upward at a 45 degree angle. This, he explained, was for safety, so that drivers behind him (as they surely all would be) did not have to breathe exhaust fumes. For extra safety, he had a wedge-shaped, very rigid piece of metal mounted over the pipes, so that they were strapped onto the underside with steel straps. This, he explained, was also for safety, so there would be no chance of an exhaust pipe falling off and causing a horrible accident. The Speedway were unimpressed, and made him take it off. For years afterward in American racing, any device that was plainly intended to circumvent the rules in some imaginative fashion was referred to as a "Gurney Brace".
^1 Automobile racing in Italy was already on thin ice at the time, after the bloodbath at the '57 Mille Miglia, and the ghastly disaster at Monza in '61 when Count von Trips^2, along with a number of spectators, was killed when his car hit a fence against which many people (most of them children) were leaning as they watched the race. This, also, is referenced in the movie. That entire movie is full of easter eggs for people who know their racing history, which is one of the reason I love it.
^2 - a Reichsgraf - quite possibly the only racing driver ever who was also an Elector of the Holy Roman Empire.
